When the group reaches the top of the stairs, they hear a thud and realize that something is coming down from below. They decide to go see their mother together, but they are interrupted by the sound of a girl's voice. The girl tells the group that her mother is coming for them, and they decide not to follow her anymore. Aono tells the story of the first time someone was spirited away from school. The second time, he says, was when he jumped into akane waterfall to chase after Sota. The third time was at the school, when he saw a girl dressed in his school uniform. He thinks that the girl might be Sota's mother, but he doesn't tell anyone. He tells the girl that he didn't want her to know that she was his mother, because they wouldn't even know each other back then. He asks her to hold him dear, to be terrified of letting go of him, to think of him all day, and to be hiss and hiss alone.